21 July 2014 | Tennis Queensland

Written by: Ellie Ryan, Tennis Queensland Community Tennis Officer, Gold Coast Region

Last month the Australia Tennis Academy opened their doors to 50 Medibank Junior Development Series players participating in the first ever Gold Coast Medibank JDS Squad.

This initiative was granted by the Gold Coast Regional Tennis Assembly, to provide a squad atmosphere for our MJDS rising stars which also incorporated tennis etiquette training for players and education sessions for parents.

A huge thank you to local coaches Noel Callaghan (Australia Tennis Academy), James Rapkins (Beenleigh Tennis Club), Gavin Vickers (Tennis Plus – Queens Park), Connie Chan (Somerset College) and Blake Taylor (2014 Medibank Gold Coast MJDS Coordinator) for their support and help throughout the event.

Also thank you to James Tucker from Tennis Officials Australia who was in attendance to teach the players general tennis etiquette, followed by an information session for all parents.

All participants rotated through the 5 coaching stations, etiquette with Tucker and fitness testing with Ellie Ryan, Gold Coast Community Tennis Officer. Each rotation saw a different theme focus for all coaches, so players got a full array of learning opportunities, and benefited greatly from the wealth of knowledge from all coaches.

Once the coaching sessions  wrapped up, Taylor ran mixed doubles match play, combining all ages and players together. The day finished with a choice of soccer, frizbee or basketball to test other skills and finish on a bit of fun.

All of the 50 participants enjoyed a wonderful day of tennis, and their parents left with a wealth of important information to apply to their children’s tennis future.

Tennis Queensland would like to give a special thanks to the coaches, James Tucker and Blake Taylor for their support during the day as well as Sport Sense for providing the kids with a Medibank JDS Squad shirt to train in.

The event was a great success and the Gold Coast region are looking to host another event later this year.

For more information on the Medibank Junior Development series on the Gold Coast, please contact Ellie Ryan on [email protected] and don’t forget to get your nominations in for the remaining MJDS events this year!